[h=3]By JENNIFER SMITH And EVAN PEREZ[/h] CAMBRIDGE, Mass.—Authorities are trying to determine whether a series of explosions and a shootout involving law-enforcement officers that left a Massachusetts Institute of Technology campus police officer dead are connected to the Boston Marathon bombings.
Associated Press Officers stand guard at Massachusetts Institute of Technology following a shooting Friday.
Hundreds of police officers descended on the Cambridge and Watertown, Mass., areas, as residents said they heard loud explosions and gunfire. Federal Bureau of Investigation authorities didn't immediately confirm Friday morning whether the law-enforcement activity was related to the marathon bombings, which killed three people and injured more than 170 on Monday afternoon.
[h=3]FBI Releases Photos of Suspects[/h]
In an email to news organizations Friday morning, the FBI said: "We are aware of the law enforcement activity in the greater Boston area. The situation is ongoing. We are working with local authorities to determine what happened."
In Watertown, residents said hundreds of officers descended on the area, zooming up and down the highway with lights blaring. Helicopters buzzed overhead.
Katie Blouin, 24 years old, of Watertown, said Federal Bureau of Investigation agents and local police entered her house, searching before telling her boyfriend to lock the house's doors.
"I'm shaking," she said. "It just makes you so nervous."
Adonis Karageorgis, a 35-year-old dental student who lives in Watertown, said he heads a loud explosion from his apartment's balcony
"I looked up and saw the sky light up," he said. "You could smell the smoke."
The MIT campus police officer who was shot dead wasn't identified. Gunshots were reported on the MIT campus at 10:48 p.m. near the Ray and Maria Stata Center, near Vassar and Main Streets, according to an emergency notice posted on MIT's website. It advised those on campus to stay indoors and away from the building, and nearly an hour later said that injuries had been reported.
Massachusetts State Police and Cambridge Police said they were investigating the shooting. The officer was shot multiple times and was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital, according to a statement on the Middlesex County District Attorney's website.
Shortly before midnight Thursday, police were gathered in Watertown, and a stretch of the campus near Vassar Street and Main Street in Cambridge was cordoned off. Police were searching through woods with dogs and flashlights.
Associated Press Officers stand guard at Massachusetts Institute of Technology following a shooting Friday.
Hundreds of police officers descended on the Cambridge and Watertown, Mass., areas, as residents said they heard loud explosions and gunfire. Federal Bureau of Investigation authorities didn't immediately confirm Friday morning whether the law-enforcement activity was related to the marathon bombings, which killed three people and injured more than 170 on Monday afternoon.
[h=3]FBI Releases Photos of Suspects[/h]
In an email to news organizations Friday morning, the FBI said: "We are aware of the law enforcement activity in the greater Boston area. The situation is ongoing. We are working with local authorities to determine what happened."
In Watertown, residents said hundreds of officers descended on the area, zooming up and down the highway with lights blaring. Helicopters buzzed overhead.
Katie Blouin, 24 years old, of Watertown, said Federal Bureau of Investigation agents and local police entered her house, searching before telling her boyfriend to lock the house's doors.
"I'm shaking," she said. "It just makes you so nervous."
Adonis Karageorgis, a 35-year-old dental student who lives in Watertown, said he heads a loud explosion from his apartment's balcony
"I looked up and saw the sky light up," he said. "You could smell the smoke."
The MIT campus police officer who was shot dead wasn't identified. Gunshots were reported on the MIT campus at 10:48 p.m. near the Ray and Maria Stata Center, near Vassar and Main Streets, according to an emergency notice posted on MIT's website. It advised those on campus to stay indoors and away from the building, and nearly an hour later said that injuries had been reported.
Massachusetts State Police and Cambridge Police said they were investigating the shooting. The officer was shot multiple times and was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital, according to a statement on the Middlesex County District Attorney's website.
Shortly before midnight Thursday, police were gathered in Watertown, and a stretch of the campus near Vassar Street and Main Street in Cambridge was cordoned off. Police were searching through woods with dogs and flashlights.